What does a seizure look like?
Watching anyone have a seizure can be quite frightening, witnessing a person lose control, terrifying! as they make strange noises as saliva runs from their mouth, as they strangely stare into space or their eyes dart quickly in the same direction, maybe they've suddenly dropped to the ground and now they're shaking violently all over with jolting/swinging arms and legs, or just twitching uncontrollably! they're possibly turning blue! the colour drained from their face within a second, and a loud gasp is the last thing you hear as you watch a body turn lifeless and floppy.... Waiting, watching for another breath... Terrifying... this person is completely out of control!
Imagine living each day not knowing when this will happen to you?
Imagine shopping with your friends one minute and then waking up on the ground the next, dazed and confused! tired and sore! Maybe you hurt yourself thrashing about uncontrollably.... you are so exhausted, your head is throbbing, after all what just happened to you is the equivalent of running a marathon, every muscle in your body has just worked extremely hard contracting. Now you realise you are amongst friends, embarrassed that you lost control!
How can this be your fault? You lost control of every part of your body, you may have even lost bladder control without realising. You are lucky!, as this time you were amongst friends! What if you were swimming by yourself? Taking a bath? How could you possibly save yourself when you don't even know its happening!
Terrifying to watch? Imagine the terror in the hearts of those who live with an ongoing fear! Who will help me? Who will run?
When I started this blog I had absolutely no intention of allowing anyone to witness Pipers seizures! Nobody needs to see that! I can't stand to see that!, why would anyone want to see my baby girl lose control? why would I want to open that personal part of our world to strangers?
....many beautiful comments on our page are not the words of strangers, they are indeed friend, with a genuine interest and concern, I'm certain many with their own experiences and stories to tell, some maybe far worse than ours,.. Some maybe new to the world of epilepsy and in desperate need of answers happening to stumble across this page, searching for clarification that what they've witnessed as a carer, parent, grandparent, friend is similar to another.
I've spent many nights searching the Internet for answers, sifting through You Tube to find a child in a similar circumstance! It may be hard to understand! Yet it wasn't enough to read this information of what a seizure looks like, I needed to see... I needed to compare! and as I read comments posted to those pages,.. from studying nurses thanking parents for this invaluable information of what a seizure looks like, and how they feel they'll be far better prepared witnessing something a text book just can not describe. I understood it's not only the sufferer and their families that can benefit from such footage, there is indeed a medical world who may also benefit.
I'm sorry this has turned quite lengthy, although I feel I must tell one more story which brought me to this decision:
That of a young girl:
My three young nieces and a friend were having lunch with their mother at a McDonald's restaurant, as the girls were seated waiting for mum to order they witnessed a young girl fall to the ground knocking chairs and tables and violently jerking, terrified the friend, an older girl ushered the three together, ran to the toilets and locked the girls into a cubical. Now I realise this young girl had done what she thought best, and proud of herself as she retold the story as the heroine, which indeed she was! she had every good intention to protect her young friends from a crazed young lady, or so she had thought!
If only our children had a better knowledge and understanding of epilepsy and how it is not to be feared, if only they knew they could have rushed to remove chairs surrounding this young girl and reduced her chance of injury, they could reassure and comfort this poor girl in a public place, who would have felt confused embarrassed and tired once the seizure was over, they could have placed her into the recovery position in case she was unable to swallow her secretions and protect her airway. They could have called for help!
I felt terrible hearing this story, thinking... what if that was my daughter! and people ran!
People were frightened and ran away, rather than take a few simple steps that could save her life!
Please be aware this footage is of a sensitive nature, displaying our baby girl during some of her varied seizures.
For information on seizure first and how to make your child's school seizure smart please visit
Epilepsy does not discriminate it can happen to anyone of any age at anytime, there are approximately 224,000 Australians living with epilepsy. 50 million people world wide!
10% of Australians will have a seizure in their lifetime
Epilepsy causes approximately 250 deaths per year
The most frequent cause of epilepsy related death is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy SUDEP, where sudden death occurs in a person with epilepsy for no apparent reason.
The exact cause of epilepsy is unknown in approximately 6 out of 10 people living with the disorder.
Epilepsy is not just one condition, but a diverse group of complex brain disorders, resulting in recurrent seizures.